The Nature of Betrayal
by H. S. Hines
Summary: Sesshomaru didn't expect Rin to grow up so quickly, nor did he expect to fall in love. Rin is happy when her lord finally notices her and thinks everything will be perfect from now on. Complete, Drama, Oneshot. Won 2nd at Feudal Association for altRomance


_Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, Rumiko Takahashi does._

Rating: T  
Genre: Drama  
Code: Rin/Sess  
Feedback: Reviews and constructive criticism are always welcome. However, my muse has been so burned by flames I'm shocked this was written, so keep those to yourself. They will only serve to inspire more hate fics in the future.

_Notes: I know I said that I wouldn't write another Sess/Rin fic, but… -sigh- That isn't fair to the fans who enjoyed these stories and it allows idiots to win, so I went ahead and wrote this, against my better judgment and the pleas of my little sis who wants more Inucest desperately, lol. This isn't a darkfic, although it's not happy, either. But no one gets raped and Sesshomaru's no monster._

**The Nature of Betrayal**

It never occurred to him that she would become a woman so quickly. A decade had passed as quickly to him as a year to a mortal and now he was looking down at a beautiful human woman who adored him. It wasn't fair—she was beautiful, loyal, obedient, and observant; in short, everything he desired in a mate. But she was mortal and that was something he couldn't forgive.

It wasn't as though he didn't have options. He had certainly chased his share of women and allowed himself to be pursued, but he always found fault in them. This one was beautiful and submissive, but stupid—he couldn't abide stupidity. This one was beautiful and intelligent, but argued with him instead of obeying, as he required. This one was everything but beautiful and he was far too young to consider an ugly woman the only option left to him. He paused in his memories and sighed wistfully. If only her mother hadn't been a weasel youkai, perhaps she would have inherited her father's beauty and he wouldn't be facing this dilemma before him.

Eventually, the offers dwindled, women mistaking pickiness for a lack of interest or cold-heartedness. One woman had even dared to say he leaned towards men when he refused her. Of course, she had been a beautiful bitch, but she was stupid, loud and contrary to the point that if she hadn't been a family friend, he would have just killed her on the spot.

And now here he was with a woman who would be perfect if she wasn't cursed with mortality. Alas, Rin was very happy being human and that was part of his attraction to her. He despised those who sought to be what they weren't—such as his brother. A hanyo should behave as a hanyo, a youkai as youkai and human as human. This was the way of things. And humans and youkai had no right becoming romantically involved with one another.

These were truths he held dear and couldn't understand why his own body was trying to betray him. Every time he looked at Rin, he became aroused. He found himself spending more time in her presence than he ever had, encouraging the childish indulgences he had once merely tolerated, such as touching his hair and carrying her when she became too tired to walk and Ah-un was otherwise occupied. He knew it was inappropriate, but he allowed himself such luxuries because they were harmless.

Or so he thought.

Sesshomaru pulled his hand back from Rin's hair, horrified that it had found its way there without his permission. She followed the movement with her eyes, and then looked up into his. His gaze fell to her lips and he knew he could taste them if he just leaned down a little. Hers would find his without hesitation; it was written in her eyes. She watched him quietly, a hint of a smile on her lips and he finally gave in.

She was everything he had imagined she would be: soft, welcoming, playful and vocal. Touch for touch, skin for skin, kiss for kiss… he never had to speak a word and she knew what he wanted. He watched her call out his name and lost himself in all of it.

Then he awoke from the lust and realized what he had done. She was sleeping peacefully, her arm thrown across his chest and a smile on her blushing face. He was torn between accepting what felt like perfection and running away from it. Sesshomaru had never been very honest with himself and even now, he denied that he felt anything for the girl beyond an unhealthy lust.

Quickly and carefully, so as not to wake her, he dressed Rin and lifted her to his chest one last time. He found the nearest human village and left her at the door of a house that had only an old woman living in it. He turned to leave, but had to stop himself and bend over her sleeping form to whisper his parting words.

"I promise to never forget you, Rin."

He fled into the night, convincing himself it was best for both of them this way…

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Rin had awakened in a strange room, an old woman watching over her and after ascertaining what had brought her to this place, she had run, trying to find Sesshomaru-sama. She didn't understand why he would abandon her and assumed that something must have happened to him or that she must have been kidnapped again. Why she had been left in this village was a mystery and she wanted answers.

She had been so happy when Sesshomaru-sama had made love to her that she had believed nothing could ever be wrong again after. She had even dreamed he had promised to never forget her and the sound of her name on his lips had been so beautiful to her. To wake up without him had become the worst moment of her life.

Days of loneliness turned into weeks of bitterness, as she was unable to find him. When weeks became months and her stomach grew with child, she became desperate to locate her lost lord. She never cursed his name as she was forced to survive a harsh winter alone; she never doubted him for a moment, though she grew weak from hunger and pregnancy. Her bitterness was towards herself for losing him, against the fate that had separated them and for the isolation that was killing her heart.

Betrayal never entered her mind as a possibility; it wasn't in her to do such a thing and she believed it was the same for Sesshomaru-sama. She loved and trusted him above all others and knew that she would recover him someday, as long as she never stopped searching. So even when the pain started in her back and abdomen, she pushed forward. Until her waters broke and she was driven to the ground, crying out, she never stopped looking. She even called his name as the child came, despite the human midwife who had found her and brought her out of the cold while she was in the throes of labor.

The midwife screamed at the sight of the infant and dropped it, running from the house. Rin snatched up her child, looking into his face, still wet with the fluids of birth. His gold eyes blinked back at her as he paused in his newborn wail to examine his surroundings. There were no youkai markings on his face or body, but his ears were long, pointed and soft, like a dog. She didn't understand the midwife's reaction at all. Her son was one of the lucky, beautiful hanyo. She wiped the blood and birth fluids off his face and then cleaned him with the cloth the midwife had left behind. She looked at the cord connecting them and wondered what was supposed to be done about it.

She found the tools the midwife had left and guessed at what she was supposed to do, and then wrapped her son in the small kimono the woman had also left with the other supplies. She almost dropped him when the next pains came and she panicked, worrying that there weren't enough supplies for her to care for a second baby. But what came out didn't resemble a baby in the slightest and she wondered what it was. She didn't have time to think on it long before the angry shouts of villagers filled the air and she heard their words. They were here to kill her and her baby.

She forced her weakened body to stand and run, trying to ignore the pain and blood running from her. The villagers chased her, but she had heard them early enough to have something of a lead on them. Rin had never been a strong fighter, but she was decent at running away and had long ago learned to ignore pain in favor of escape.

The baby screamed in the forest so loudly that she was afraid he, combined with the trail of blood she was leaving, would attract predators and she pushed herself to go as fast as humanly possible. She was afraid to cry out for help, since she knew none of the youkai here and any humans she encountered would probably try to kill her and her son. She wanted Sesshomaru-sama in that moment more than any other in her life and she finally broke and screamed his name.

She thought her prayers were answered when a head of silver hair filled her view. Golden eyes flashed in the dark and she started to feel relief, but then she saw that they were too wide and there was no rose lining his lids.

"InuYasha-san," she whispered, and then fell to her knees. All her dreams died in that moment and she became certain that she would never see Sesshomaru-sama again.

"Rin?" InuYasha responded, quickly grabbing her shoulders before she fell forward. Her body was so weak, though, that her son fell from her arms. InuYasha caught him before he landed with one hand while maintaining the hold on her shoulder with the other. He looked down at the boy and his eyes went wide with shock.

"He is your nephew. Please, tell Sesshomaru-sama that I'm sorry I couldn't find him," Rin gasped as she felt her life slipping away. Everything was beginning to grow cold and she no longer felt attached to her body. The last time she died it had almost been instantaneous, but she remembered the feeling of falling away from herself. That time, though, she had felt hot from the wound the wolf left and the press of their bodies as they eagerly anticipated feeding on her. There was no warmth left in her this time, though, and she knew she wouldn't awaken to those beautiful amber eyes that she loved so much.

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The girl was dead before he could answer her and InuYasha was left holding the hanyo baby, all alone. He looked down at the screaming infant in wonder.

"InuYasha?" Kagome called and he stood up, pulling Rin's body up to toss across his shoulder. '_That hypocritical, good-for-nothing, son of a bitch brother of mine will get the whole package,_' he thought, furious. '_How could he abandon the woman carrying his child?_' InuYasha had no trouble assuming betrayal from the youkai relative that had never been any family to him.

"Here," InuYasha called back as he headed off in the direction of his wife. Kagome broke through the foliage with a smile on her face, which disappeared at the sight of him. There was a silent question in her eyes and he answered it before she could ask. "It's my brother's human girl, Rin." He handed the baby to Kagome, who took him without a thought and looked down at him, then back up in shock. "And that's our nephew."

"Where's Sesshomaru?" Kagome asked.

"She said she didn't know," InuYasha said, adjusting Rin's body to make her more comfortable before he realized that she was beyond such things now.

"Is she…?"

"Yeah," InuYasha answered. "She's dead."

"How horrible," Kagome said, pulling the baby close. InuYasha saw the tears forming and started walking quickly away to where he knew his half-brother would be. He didn't want to see the look on Kagome's face as she looked down on the child he could never give her. He didn't know if it was because he was hanyo or if the problem simply lie in him, but he was sterile. The reason for his blind hatred against the brother he had once forgiven was now crying softly against a bosom that would never feed a life, as it should. He resented the accidental life his brother had created and carelessly discarded and he intended to beat some sense into the taiyoukai.

They traveled for several days before they found their goal. Sesshomaru approached them as they walked into his encampment and InuYasha dropped the wrapped corpse at his feet. Sesshomaru looked down in confusion for a moment and then he gasped. It was such a soft sound that even InuYasha almost missed it. It served to relieve some of his anger when Sesshomaru tore the wrapping open and reached down to confirm that Rin truly was dead. Sesshomaru drew Tenseiga in an instant and stood over Rin's body, searching for something.

InuYasha watched him staring down at the body, his hand tightening on the hilt of his sword until his knuckles turned white and the claw from his middle finger pierced the palm of his hand, drawing blood. His anger then vanished, turning to sympathy when he met his brother's grief-stricken eyes.

"Tenseiga fails," Sesshomaru said softly. He looked back down at her body. "Why can I not…?"

"It's not a total loss," InuYasha offered. Sesshomaru's head shot up, his lip curled back in anger and the hanyo nodded his head to Kagome. Sesshomaru followed the movement and the expression on his face disappeared as Kagome held out the infant. Sesshomaru sheathed Tenseiga and stepped forward to look down at his son. He stood there a while, just looking at him and refusing to take him from Kagome. Finally, Sesshomaru looked away. "Rin said that she was sorry she couldn't find you. They were her last words."

"Get that out of my sight," Sesshomaru said, turning his back to them. "Do with it as you please, but I'll have nothing to do with it."

"How can you say that about your own son?" Kagome yelled at him in horror.

"I don't know what you're saying," Sesshomaru said. "I have no son." Kagome was about to say something else, but InuYasha gripped her arm.

"He's right," InuYasha said. "He has no son." He turned to glare hatefully at his brother's back. "This is my son." He turned back to his wife and told her, "Our son, Kagome." Kagome's eyes widened and she looked down at the baby she had been caring for longer than a week now. She pulled him close to her chest. This was the closest she would come to holding InuYasha's child, she knew.

"Do you still feel that way about your nephew, Sesshomaru?" Kagome asked. Sesshomaru was quiet for a while, looking down at Rin's body. He looked away from them all and took a few steps away before answering.

"A hanyo should be a hanyo. He is a fitting son for you, InuYasha. Tell me how you name him." Sesshomaru walked away then, leaving InuYasha and Kagome with their new child and InuYasha didn't have the heart to hate his brother then. He had caught a glimpse of his eyes and saw the pain in them. He had seen regret. Kagome stepped close to him and he wrapped his arm around her, looking down at his new son, grateful to his brother for finally giving him a family at last.

He just hoped that someday, Sesshomaru would find one of his own.

_**The End.**_

_**A/N: **I hope the reader understood that Sesshomaru cast off Rin out of fear of becoming what he had protested for hundreds of years and not because he was selfish, as InuYasha thought. I think it's pretty clear the brothers don't understand one another very well most of the time. One's body chemistry doesn't change with pregnancy for a few weeks, so, despite many people who like to think it's possible to detect pregnancy immediately, it's not and Sesshomaru had no idea that Rin was pregnant. And for the people who like to think that humans smell different when they're ovulating, guess again. We don't release those pheromones until after the egg dies. God only knows why. And as for why Tenseiga failed—I think Rin's soul had already moved on this time, before Sesshomaru got to her body. I think that should cover any questions the fic brought up. Of course, as always, I'm happy to answer any others you might have and appreciate reviews of all sorts, save flames._


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